We are finally back.Something I have learned in Austin: Any form of transit (and this includes you Southwest Airlines) that has any history with the Southwest area of this country is terrible (this may not hold true for ferries). The cabs in Austin all have tinted windows (for maximum style obviously) and it prevents any hopeful fare from ascertaining the status of the cab. That is, it results in a lot of cabs beeping at you and then driving away when they are full.
Yoni Wolf (Of Why?) – One of my favorite artists sans his group. Totally rash judgment based on less than five minutes of watching: Dude needed his band.
Themselves – Rapper Doseone could write an album of limericks about zip lock bags and I would still call it the most important cultural document of the past decade. However, after six years he is back doing rap, real rap, and not the abstractions and genre experiments he does in Subtle and under the Doseone moniker. And he’s killing it.
Titus Andronicus -This band is rad. Not only do they play amp-smashing rock and roll but they show a complete disregard for property and their lives. There was a guitar solo FROM A TOWER OF AMPS. THAT IS SO ROCK AND ROLL IT MAKES MY HEART EXPLODE.
30 seconds of The Mae-Shi – Awesome. This should be apparent by now. They are awesome. They put a sheet over the crowd and call it the Mae-sheet. They play with wireless guitars. They hand their instruments to crowd members. They wrote a song about Christian Bale the day after he freaked out. Their album is a concept album about the apocalypse. They are awesome. Oh my god they are so awesome.
The Thermals – They played in what looked like it was once the quarry from the Flinstones. While this was aesthetically the most awesome thing since The Mae-Shi formed, it was a sonic disaster.
Ulrich Schnauss – Gorgeous shoegaze/electronic at a place that arbitrarily decided that Austin’s smoking ban indoors is not welcome. Ani and I were so tired that we actually drank Sparks for its promises of increased energy and not the 7 percent alcohol. Not much to watch but overwhelming sound that holds you and says that everything will be alright.
Sholpa Ray And Her Happy Hookers – This band is overwhelmingly “indie rock” from Brooklyn.
Ani has the next 4 bands.
A.
